New longboards

This is the last day these boards will look this good. It’s just the way life treats these boards.

Say goodbye to the shine. Say hello to wax, sand, dings, abrasions, etc.

On our way to Maine my son and I stopped at our favorite surf shop (insane inventory) and bought two longboards. Longboards are GREAT. Stewart longboards especially. My last one whistled when I surfed on it- a medium-pitched noise heard above the sound of the water under certain conditions.

My son’s board is on the right, mine in the left. They ain’t cheap but if you figure how many times you surf on them over how many years, I believe it to be a great investment for the soul.

One can ride tiny two footers like we have in Maine now, or fifteen to twenty footers during hurricane season and everything in between.

I love longboards!

Not sure they love me though for what happened to my last one, also a Stewart.

We were coming back from Maine in 2012 with “Stewart” in the back of the pickup truck- a nine foot board on an eight foot bed with a two foot tailgate packed with bikes, other boards, the canoe. A passing motorist drove by and pointed to the back of the truck. Stewie had disembarked!

We took the next exit got back on 95, then got back on 95 south and arrived where the escaped convict had bailed. All that was left was a fin and the leash and a whole lot of powder. Poor stewie, and poor motorist or trucker or whomever hit stewie. Someone had to have picked him up and taken him home.

I haven’t ridden a longboard since- till yesterday. It’s a whole different sport than surfing. You gotta get that log up to the speed of the wave before you can stand up, requires a lot of paddling. Then you gotta get back out, requires a lot of “something” in order not to get destroyed by the incoming waves. The bright side is that you can ride teeny tiny waves which is the summer condition. I’m sore from yesterday’s two hour entirely forgettable session, which validated the purchase yesterday!